Egil Håskjold Larsen : 2017

Slowly we glide over the remains of life-jackets, torn travel bags and discarded shoes at an unnamed shoreline, establishing the tense political framework of this story. From here we pass on to observe groups of fellow travellers, still continuously moving forward. In the midst of the crowd a three-year-old girl, Lean, catches our attention. She is sitting on the shoulders of her father, with a Frozen backpack on her own back. The father is wearing a hoodie, an Adidas backpack and Nike shoes. This is a family like our own; these people are just like our neighbours. The only, but huge, difference is that they have lost their home and are on their way to a new one – one with their relatives who live in Sweden. There are no interviews or voice-overs; the filmmaker follows the family, which also includes Lean's mother and sister as well as her uncles, as they wait at the Macedonian border, then get into a car driven by a Serbian, walk through Hungarian fields, get on a train in Austria, and then board a bus in Germany. But these locations are not identified with narrative titles – the viewer can determine their geographical position only by means of road signs, railway station instructions or the language spoken in some of the scenes. Carefully we are getting into Lean's journey, and we get to know her outstanding character as she slowly makes her way through Europe with her family. She is strong, never cries and seems to grasp the seriousness of these circumstances. This film tells the story about childhood, family relations, hope and a world that is difficult to understand. Egil Håskjold Larsen's documentary, his first feature, premiered at Copenhagen International Documentary Festival 2017.

69 Minutes of 86 Days – trailer (vimeo)

Stevan Filipović : 2015
Next to Me

Olja is a high school history teacher in Belgrade, married to Uglješa, a painter whose latest exhibition provoked violent reactions from Serbian nationalists. One night, a group of masked hooligans attacks her. They film the attack and upload the clip to YouTube. The next day Olja discovers that some of her students were responsible. She takes away their mobile phones, and in the heat of the moment decides to lock them in the school building, also disconnecting the school phones and the internet. In order to solve the problem together, and with inability to leave the school, students begin to communicate. During that night, a generation that was written off before they were ever given a chance will learn more than they ever expected about themselves and their classmates. Stevan Filipović's third feature won the Golden Arena for Best Feature Film in the international competition when it premiered at Pula Film Festival 2015.

Siniša Galić : 2015
Otvoreni kavez

Anna, a young photojournalist from Berlin travels to Serbia for a photo documentary about refugees. Arriving in Belgrade, Anna finds out that she can't realise her task the way she intended. Through the cabdriver Džeki she encounters the withdrawn but nevertheless interesting young woman Maja who works at the nearby fast-food restaurant. Miserable with her living circumstances, Maja is dreaming of a new beginning somewhere abroad. In an attempt to successfully finish her project, Anna starts to photograph Maja, secretly making a documentary about her. Driven by the wish to change her life, Maja doesn't realise Anna's true intentions. Focusing on the two women, from Germany and Serbia, facing their personal and social conflicts, a story about European societies that, besides their frequently exposed differences, have a great number of similarities. Siniša Galić's feature debut premiered at Küstendorf International Film and Music Festival 2015, and screened in competition at Cinema City International Film Festival 2015.

Pavle Vučković : 2015

Jovan is a young man who is, among other girls, dating Maja, a seemingly ordinary young woman. He treats her casually, with no strings attached. Slowly, her mysterious and shady behaviour intrigues him. Following videos and clues over the social networks, he finds indications of Maja's parallel life. Whilst confused about why he feels bothered by it, Jovan becomes insecure about Maja's feelings, hurting her in order to bring her true emotions to the surface. As the video clips gradually merge with reality, Jovan loses himself, desperately trying to understand who Maja really is. A thriller depicting coming of age through a destructive love affair, it is a labyrinth of the emotional and subconscious levels of this kind of relationship. Pavle Vučković's feature debut premiered in competition in the Séances Spéciales at Festival de Cannes 2015.

Marinus Groothof : 2015
Nebo iznad nas

Belgrade, 1999. Every day Ana, Sloba and Bojan put their lives at great risk, simply by going to work. Their jobs are in or next to the national television building in Belgrade, which because of the war has become a strategic target for NATO bombings. All three force themselves to deal with the fear, in order to hold on to their ordinary lives. But 'ordinary' has ceased to exist some time ago. The actress Ana, 35, wants to stay loyal to the theatre she loves dearly, but which is located next to the TV building. Although secretly terrified, she keeps compelling herself to go. To escape from reality, the hip youngster Bojan, 23, immerses himself in the club scene with its sex, drugs and house music. Broadcast technician Sloba, 46, has sent his wife and son to safety out of town, but has stayed behind to earn their livelihood. That's his mission and nothing can deter him from it. Every night Belgrade transforms from a vibrant city into a military target. While the bombs fall from the sky above, Ana, Bojan and Sloba struggle with the question: How can I survive, while staying sane in an insane world? Marinus Groothof's feature debut premiered in competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2015.

Vuk Ršumović : 2014
No One's Child

In the spring of 1988 a wild boy is found deep in the Bosnian mountains living amongst wolves. He is given the name of Haris and sent to an orphanage in Belgrade to be taken care of by Ilke. He becomes inseparable from the little Žika and slowly starts pronouncing his first words. In 1992, in the midst of war, local authorities force him to go back to Bosnia where he is given a rifle and sent to the front line. One night, for the first time in his life, the boy makes a decision entirely of his own. Vuk Ršumović's feature debut was winner of the FIPRESCI Award for Best Film, the FEDEORA Award for Best Cinematography, and the RaroVideo Audience Award for Best Film when it premiered in competition at Venice International Film Critics' Week 2014.

Stefan Ivančić : 2014
Leto bez meseca

Before embarking upon studies abroad, sixteen-year-old Isidora spends a few days with her older sister at their childhood countryside house. Lost in the summer's stillness, as fleeting romances develop with two local boys, Isidora enjoys being in the moment but fears the impending changes. Stefan Ivančić's fourth short film premiered in competition in the Cinéfondation selection at Festival de Cannes 2014, and screened at Cinema City International Film Festival 2014.

Szabolcs Tolnai : 2014
Strange Forest

The son of a Hungarian family living in northern Serbia goes missing from the centre for drug rehabilitation. Searching for him, his parents discover that he was in debt to a local narcotics boss and that he was forced to escape and hide. His parents blame each other for the fate of their son and after a painful conflict, the father leaves the home. Over the following few days both parents search for their son, each facing in their own way, the harsh reality that surrounds them. Szabolcs Tolnai's fourth feature premiered in the National selection at Cinema City International Film Festival 2014.

Mina Đukić : 2014
Neposlusni

As children, Leni and Lazar were best friends. Leni is forced to spend summer in their small provincial home town working in her parents' pharmacy. When Lazar returns from three years of extensive travels abroad for his father's funeral, Leni yearns to reconnect with her childhood soul mate but still feels the sting of their years of estrangement. Nevertheless, hoping to escape the doldrums of adult life, she embarks with Lazar on an impromptu bicycle trip across a gorgeous, sunbaked countryside. As they revel in raucous bouts of disobedience, Leni must decide if their shared language of misbehaviour is a bond upon which she can build a life. Mina Đukić's feature debut premiered in competition at Sundance Film Festival 2014, with its European premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014.

Srđan Golubović : 2012
Circles

Marco, a Serbian soldier on leave during the war, returns to his Bosnian hometown. When three fellow soldiers accost Haris, a Muslim shopkeeper, Marco intervenes, but it costs him his life. Twelve years later the war is over, but the wounds remain open. Marco's father is rebuilding a church when Bogdan, the son of one of Marco's killers, appears looking for work. Meanwhile in Belgrade, Marco's friend Nabobs, a renowned surgeon, debates whether or not to operate on another of Marco's killers. And in Germany, Haris, now married with a family, strives to repay his debt when Marco's widow arrives seeking refuge. Unfolding as a triptych, exploring the moral convolutions and complex story strands that emerge from one fateful moment. Srdan Golubović's third feature was the winner of the Special Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival 2013.

Goran Paskaljević : 2012
Kad svane dan

Miša Brankov is a retired music professor. One morning he receives a letter requesting him to contact the Jewish Museum in Belgrade. At the museum, he learns that during an excavation on the sewers at the city's old fairgrounds an iron box was found. The location had previously been the site of an infamous concentration camp where some 48,000 Serbian Jews and Gypsies had perished during the Second World War. The contents of the box, that will change his life, include personal documents pertaining to the professor's identity and an unfinished musical score called "When Day Breaks". The box was buried by a concentration camp inmate, the Jewish musician Isaac Weiss, in the year 1941. Eventually, the professor discovers that when he was an infant, his real parents, the Weisses, entrusted him to their friends, the Brankovs, just before they were taken into the camp. The initial shock of the professor's discovery soon gives way to a determination to fulfil the shattered dreams that he has inherited. It is something that infuses him with new purpose and provides him with a second lease on life.

Miroslav Terzić : 2012
Ustanička ulica

Dušan is the new deputy prosecutor in the Special Court for War Crimes in Belgrade. He is given the task to investigate a paramilitary formation, the First Pioneer's unit, that was operating on the battlefields in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, where they disappeared without a trace. Dušan is determined to bring the case to an end and to show his father, a famous retired professor at the law faculty, but to his boss too, that he is capable for this job. This becomes for Dušan much more than a simple case – it becomes a personal confrontation. A political thriller, Miroslav Terzić's debut feature premiered in competition at Sarajevo Film Festival 2012, where it won the award for Best Actor.